1865.] Kett on Prehistoric Records. 247 



increase of skill in manufacturing stone implements would serve 

 to confirm whatever evidence there might be. Of one fact there is 

 but little doubt, that some of our predecessors in this island had a 

 practice still common amongst some of the tribes of North America, 

 viz. that of flattening the skulls of their children by compression 

 during infancy. 



There is, then, still something to be done in clearing up the early 

 ethnology of this country. It seems clear, however, that some race, 

 probably Turanian, dwelt here before the Kelts landed on these shores, 

 but whether this previous race had themselves crossed the Straits of 

 Dover or had migrated before the sea broke through to separate us 

 from some of the turmoil of Continental strife, as has been adduced from 

 the Flora of the period ; or, again, whether they had been anticipated 

 by an earlier race— that race which left its flint weapons at Hoxne, 

 dwelt in numbers about Bedford, with a stone killed an elephant, 

 where Gray's Inn Lane now stands, and dwelt in caves at Brixham, — 

 we are not as yet in a position to state with certainty. 



But to turn from the people to the remains of their productions : 

 the earliest dwellings of all seem to have been natural caves ; then 

 holes artificially made ; next after these, and in imitation of them, we 

 find in Scotland underground dwelling-places formed of large unhewn 

 stones without cement of any kind ; these are called weems, from the 

 Gaelic uamha, a cave. They sometimes consist of several apartments, 

 being as much as 30 feet in length, and were evidently long dwelt in, 

 from the amount of ashes and other remains left in them. They were 

 roofed by causing large stones to rest on the sides, so as to lap over 

 from the centre ; and again, others were caused to project farther 

 inwards, until they were sufficiently near for a single flag to bridge 

 the interval. No nearer approach to the arch was attempted. Near 

 many of these weems have been found circles of stone of some 

 two or three feet in height, accompanied by stakes of hazel, probably 

 used as the summer dwelling-places of the inhabitants of the subterra- 

 nean cells during that portion of the year when the climate would 

 allow them to escape the darkness, smoke, and listlessness below. 

 Whether these circles were protections to tents or the outer rim of a 

 species of wigwam, cannot now be determined ; but we may well 

 imagine the joy with which the cave-dwellers would leave their sun- 

 less, miserable holes for the upper air as soon as the climate permitted 

 them to enjoy fresher air and more room. 



But among habitations the Lake-dwellings (in German, Pfahlbau- 

 ten, pileworks) are perhaps the most interesting. The remarkably 

 dry winter of 1853-4 caused the lakes of Switzerland to sink far 

 below their usual level. Some of the inhabitants of Meilen, on Lake 

 Zurich, took advantage of this circumstance to enclose a portion 

 of the land usually covered by the lake, but now left dry. In so 

 doing, they used the earth on the inside of the boundary to make the 

 embankment. In the soil thus used, they soon noticed the remains 

 of many antiquities of some early race. This drew the attention of 

 several learned men* to the spot, and in consequence of this, to like 

 * M. Aeppli was the first who recognized the value of these discoveries. 



